North Carolina HB 354: Amend Disability Laws.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 3
HOUSE BILL 354
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/1/25
Third Edition Engrossed 4/9/25

Short Title: Civil Procedure/Gatekeeper Orders/Database. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 12, 2025
*H354-v-3*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT AMENDING RULE 17 OF THE NORTH CAROLINA RULES OF CIVIL 2
PROCEDURE TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF GATEKEEPER ORDERS. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. G.S. 1A-1, Rule 17 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, is amended by 5
adding a new subsection to read: 6
"(f) Gatekeeper Order. – A person who has been adjudicated incompetent and has been 7
prohibited from filing pleadings in court may file a pleading with the court only through the 8
person's guardian or counsel. If a person has been identified by the Administrative Office of the 9
Courts as having been so adjudicated, then the court shall strike any pleading filed by the person 10
during the person's adjudicated incompetency and not filed by the person's guardian or counsel 11
and issue a gatekeeper order to prevent the person from executing filings in violation of this 12
subsection. A gatekeeper order entered under this subsection shall be served on the person's 13
guardian and counsel. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person who has been adjudicated 14
incompetent from filing any pleading without the assistance of that person's guardian or counsel 15
in any of the following: (i) an action against that person's guardian or counsel, (ii) an action 16
appealing the determination of being adjudicated incompetent, (iii) an action petitioning for 17
modification of guardianship, (iv) an action to restore the person's competency, and (v) an action 18
in which the person who has been adjudicated incompetent is sued. The court shall withdraw the 19
gatekeeper order and allow the person to file pleadings with a court if the person's competency 20
has been restored." 21
SECTION 2. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall develop a functional 22
database of all persons currently adjudicated as incompetent by a North Carolina court as 23
described in Section 1 of this act. The database must be updated when a person has been 24
adjudicated incompetent, when a guardianship has been modified, and when a person's 25
competency has been restored. The database must be readily accessible to judges and the clerks 26
of superior court. 27
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective December 1, 2025, and applies to actions 28
and proceedings brought or pending on or after that date. 29